Brackets for mounting electrical boxes between wall studs are used on a daily basis in the construction industry. These brackets allow the builder to conveniently traverse the space between the studs and mount an electrical box at any location he chooses. A typical prior art bracket is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,990 issued to Rinderer. With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 in Rinderer, the prior art bracket comprises a bar 21 attached at both ends to a respective wall stud S having a pair of integral elongate extensions 51 which set the bar back from the front of the studs S. The bar 21 also has a plurality of pilot holes 45 for accommodating the screws 13 for attaching the backwall of the electrical box B to the bar 21. Because the length of the bar 21 is several times the width of the electrical box, it can be used to mount a plurality of boxes.
In mounting bracket applications, it is desirable for the front of the electrical box B, after mounting, to be substantially flush with the front portions of the two studs. This is because a section of wall is set against the front of the two studs, and it is desirable for the front of the electrical box to be substantially flush with that section of wall. The prior art bracket 21 fulfills this requirement adequately when all of the boxes to be mounted on the bar have the same depth. However, when boxes of differing depths are to be mounted, the prior art bracket fails to provide satisfactory results. To illustrate, suppose that a second box, having a lesser depth than box B, is also mounted to the bar 21 shown in FIG. 2 of Rinderer. Because of its lesser depth, the front of the second box after attachment will not be flush with the wall between the studs S, but instead will be recessed from the wall. This is an undesirable result. Likewise, attaching a box having a larger depth than box B will cause the front of the box to extend beyond the wall between the studs S, and this also is an undesirable result. Because boxes of various depths are used regularly in the construction industry, it is important for a mounting bracket to be capable of accommodating boxes having different depths. The prior art bracket lacks this capability. Therefore, there exists a need for an improved apparatus and method for mounting electrical boxes between two studs in a wall.